Creamy Mushroom Soup
Author: Nicole
Ingredients
  • 2 ounces dried porcini mushrooms
  • ½ gallon (8 cups) water
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (divided)
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil (divided)
  • 1 yellow onion, sliced
  • ½ red onion, sliced
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 pounds fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced (see Notes)
  • 2 pounds fresh oyster mushrooms, sliced (see Notes)
  • 1 quart (4 cups) whole milk
  • 1 cup dry sherry
  • 2 teaspoons minced fresh oregano
  • 2 teaspoons minced fresh rosemary
  • 2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme
  • Kosher salt
Instructions
  1. Place porcini mushrooms and water in a 4-quart pot. Bring to a boil over high heat and continue to boil until the liquid is dark, about 4 minutes. Remove from the stove and let steep for 30 minutes. Line a strainer with cheesecloth and pour mushroom stock into a new clean container (you’re going to use it later). Reserve the porcini mushrooms. If there’s too much sediment, you may need to do this twice. You can rehydrate the mushrooms and make the stock a day in advance.
  2. In a 7-quart (or larger) pot, heat 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add yellow and red onions to the pot. Cook until soft and beginning to carmelize, stirring occasionally, about 12 to 15 minutes. If they are sticking to the bottom of the pot, add some water.
  3. When onions are done, stir in garlic and cook for 1 minute. Season with Kosher salt.
  4. Remove onion and garlic mixture to a plate.
  5. To the same 7-quart pot, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add reserved porcini mushrooms, shiitake mushrooms and oyster mushrooms and stir so that they don’t stick to the pan. After a few minutes, the mushrooms will begin to release some moisture. Cook the mushrooms until most of the moisture is gone, about 10 minutes.
  6. Stir in the oregano, rosemary and thyme. Cook for 1 minute.
  7. Remove half the mushroom mixture to a cutting board. Roughly chop the mushrooms and reserve them.
  8. Add onions back into the pot that contains the remaining half of the mushrooms and stir.
  9. Add the milk and half of the mushroom stock to the pot and bring to a boil.
  10. Add the sherry. Cook for 10 minutes on low heat. Season with Kosher salt.
  11. Using an immersion blender, blend the soup until it’s smooth (the smoother, the better). Alternatively, you can transfer (in batches) the soup to a blender or Vitamix to blend it. Then transfer it back to the pot.
  12. Add the reserved chopped mushrooms and stir. Add additional mushroom stock to thin, if needed. Add additional Kosher salt, if needed.
  13. You can serve it immediately, refrigerate it for up to 3 days or freeze it for up to 3 months.
Notes
* Can’t find shiitake or oyster mushrooms, try cremini (also called baby bellas or brown mushrooms) instead.
* The soup will thicken as it cools (particularly in the refrigerator). Heat it up first before adding additional mushroom stock to ensure you don’t thin it out too much.
Recipe by Riegl Palate at https://www.rieglpalate.com/creamy-mushroom-soup/